Man dies after falling into river while escaping arrest in Kericho

According to police, the man had attempted to steal a cow belonging to his mother to sell it for his personal use.

His siblings upon realizing that the family cow was missing from the shed, immediately launched a hunt for it.

After awhile, they caught wind that the man had driven the cow towards some direction and immediately traced him and caught him up with the cow, forcing him to return it to the owner.

As they were taking back the cow, the area assistant chief together with the Assistant County Commissioner who were passing by saw the man being frog-matched and stopped to enquire what was going on.

After realizing that the assistant chief and the assistant county commissioner had stopped, the man thought that the duo wanted to arrest him and he immediately ran towards the swollen river and attempted to swim to the other side as a way of escaping but was overwhelmed by waters which swept him away.

As a result, the angry residents turned against the chief and attacked him saying he was responsible for the man's drowning, leaving him with injuries.

The search for the body of the deceased is ongoing.